Somewhat unbelievably, I haven't talked about the two newest instruments to appear in the household. Christopher has completely transitioned from cello to bass; Matthew joined him and started with his bass in 5th grade strings this year. Cpher is one of two basses in the 6th grade orchestra; Matthew one of four in 5th grade.
Cpher also started lessons this year; he sees his teacher for 30 minutes every Wednesday. The lessons have been good for him; I think he’s more confident with the instrument after essentially not having used it for 5th grade.
There are a few logistical issues that should be considered:
These are not small instruments: One good thing is that unlike the viola, Fric and Frac do not have to lug this instrument back and forth to school each day…there are basses at the school that they are allowed to use (for a nominal fee). But man, getting the bass and Cpher to his lesson is a logistical challenge. He is in a 3/4 bass; some adults only use 1/2 size basses…..and since really the only room that make sense for these things to be stored is in the basement, it is quite a haul to get the instrument to the car and then from the car to the lesson room. We’ve learned that the Volt can hold one bass….you need to put the back seats, both of them, all the way forward and rest the bridge of the bass almost up to the elbows of the driver.
Getting both instruments from the house to the auditorium for the concert will be worthy of a post of its own I’m sure.
These are not cheap instruments: We are renting to own, but, having two of these things in the house forced us to get a rider on our insurance policy specifically for musical instruments. Roughly 3x to 4x the cost of Kevin’s viola….and it’s a nice viola!
But…: they sound a lot better than the viola in these early stages…not this god-awful squeaking noise from the viola……
I reserve judgment if either of the boys shows any kind of Kevin-level promise as a musician.
One of the downsides of having the basses in the basement is that when Dad wants to go down and watch football, or baseball, or whatever, that the boys, happy to have an audience, look at this as practice time. It is hard to see the TV with a big ass bass in the way….much less hear the TV. But the boys sound good…..and seem to enjoy playing the instrument.
